See a Grizzly Bear Turn Ninja and Skillfully Snag a Tasty Salmon

Meet Seuss, he’s a young brown bear who lives around the McNeil River in Alaska. He’s an expert fisherman and a connoisseur of salmon! At the beginning of the clip, we see him using his expert fishing skills to spot and then pounce on a salmon in the river rapids. Unfortunately, this particular section of the river is the territory of an older and larger brown bear called Scraper. Seuss doesn’t hang around once he spots Scraper walking towards him. He takes his half-eaten salmon with him though!

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What Do Brown Bears Normally Eat?

The brown bears in Alaska are also called grizzly bears. They typically live along the southern coast of Alaska for one main reason. This is where they can access plenty of spawning salmon. The coastal areas also provide them with plenty of vegetation which is another source of food for them. Thanks to all of this excellent nutrition, Alaskan grizzly bears are usually larger and greater in number than their cousins in other parts of North America.

Brown bears are actually very flexible when it comes to their diet. They are omnivores and are able to digest both plant and animal material. As well as salmon, they are very partial to berries, grasses, and sedges.

Which Animals Do Grizzly Bears Hunt?

Brown bears are actually very accomplished predators when they need to be. In Alaska, brown bears are very capable of catching moose and caribou. However, they tend to concentrate on younger animals especially newborns because these are easier to catch. They can also catch small mammals such as ground squirrels and mice. Brown bears are also happy to eat carrion which is the carcasses of animals caught by other predators. They are able to detect the carcasses using their excellent sense of smell. You can sometimes see brown bears gathered in large groups feeding on whale carcasses on the shore.

Using their sense of smell, brown bears are also very good at detecting human food. They can be attracted to human homes by improperly stored food and garbage. This brings them into conflict with their human neighbors as they can present a threat to human safety. For this reason, authorities recommend that you dispose of garbage correctly and always store human food in sealed containers if you are camping in bear territory.